10/9/01

AU RECOGNIZED AS TOP PRODUCER OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENGINEERS

AUBURN -- Auburn University is ranked 16th nationally in graduating African-- Americans with bachelor's degrees in engineering, according to Black Issues in Higher Education.

The national publication reviewed graduation data from colleges and universities-- provided to the U. S. Department of Education for the 1999-2000 academic year. The ranking represents Auburn's first top 20 listing in this category among colleges and universities nationally. Included in the list are both historically black and predominately white universities.

"We credit our BellSouth Minority Engineering Program, an academic support network that was created in the fall of 1996, for much of this success," says Larry Benefield, dean of AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. "This program provides proactive tutoring and mentoring to minorities entering the engineering curriculum. We are pleased with the success of these efforts, which in turn motivates us to continue along this path."

Dennis Weatherby, who heads the program, says it "has always been our goal to build model retention and recruitment programs to assist minority students."

"During the 1999-2000 year, Auburn produced 36 African-American engineers -- ahead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ranked 17th with 34 graduates; Purdue University, ranked 19th with 31; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 32nd with 21; and Ohio State University, 46th with 17 African-American engineers in the 1999-2000 year

The overall rankings listed the Georgia Institute of Technology No. 1, while the University of Florida and Clemson University ranked 11th and 13th. Other Southeastern schools in the survey include Mississippi State University, ranked 23rd; the University of Tennessee, ranked 38th; and the University of Alabama, ranked 60th, with only 13 graduates.

"We are thrilled to have this national recognition for Auburn University, the College of Engineering and our academic support programs," Weatherby added. "Since the BellSouth Minority Engineering Program began, the number of African-Americans earning degrees has steadily increased."

Auburn Engineering has shown significant growth in African-American graduation numbers over the past four years. The number of engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to blacks from 28 in 1997-98, to 31 in 1998-99 and 36 in 1999-00, the figure used for evaluation in the Black Issues survey.

"I am encouraged by this current ranking, but I am eager to see how we rank in the next academic cycle (2000-01) because we had 45 African American engineering graduate," Weatherby said..

He believes that the increase in the number of graduates is due largely to a series of academic support programs that were first implemented in fall 1997.

Weatherby has taken a very proactive approach to retaining students.

"Instead of waiting for students to drop in whenever they feel like they need assistance in their course work, we ask program participants to maintain a weekly tutorial that consist of several one-hour sessions between classes," he says. "This arrangement allows students to view their participation as a part of their academic schedule.

"Research studies suggest that providing structured academic support in this way is more effective in meeting students' academic needs. The sessions provide assistance in mathematics, chemistry, and physics, and include both one-on-one tutoring and collaborative learning groups that allow students to learn from upper-level engineering students, as wellas from their classmates.

"The goal of these sessions is not just to complete assignments in order to prepare for exams, but to master principles that students will ultimately use in their engineering courses and- on the job as engineers," Weatherby says.

Black Issues in Higher Education, a nationally distributed biweekly publication with a circulation in excess of 200,000.

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oct01:AU-engineering

CONTACT: Benefield, 334/844-2308; and Weatherby, 334/844-2331.